I.

7 Cantor set and Space filling curve

Definition 1 The set
∞
X ai
C := { | ai = 0 or 2} ⊂ [0, 1]
i=1
3i

is called the Cantor set. Alternatively, let

M0 = [0, 1]
1 2
M1 = M0 − ( , )
3 3
..
.
∞
[ 1 + 3k 2 + 3k
Mn = Mn−1 − ( n , n
).
k=0
3 3

Then ∞
\
C= Mn .
n=1

Proposition 1 Let Ai = {0, 2} be a space with a discrete topology; let X =

Π∞
i=1 Ai . Define a function f : X → C ⊂ [0, 1] as
∞
a1 a2 X 1
f ((a1 , a2 , . . .)) = + 2 + ... = ai ( i ) ∈ C.
3 3 i=1
3

Then f is a homeomorphism.

Proof
1. f is bijective : Clear.
P ai
2. f is continuous : Given  > 0 and c = 3i
∈ C, choose N ∈ N such that
∞
X 2
i
< .
i=N +1
3

Let U := p−1 −1
1 (a1 ) ∩ . . . ∩ pN (aN ) ⊂ X. Note that U is open. Then for a ∈ U,
∞
X 2
|f (a) − c| ≤ i
< .
i=N +1
3

1
Thus
f (U) ⊂ B (c).

Hence f is continuous.
3. f −1 is continuous : For a given c ∈ C, let a = (ai ) = f −1 (c) ∈ X. Then for
a basic open set U := p−1 −1
i1 (ai1 ) ∩ . . . ∩ pin (ain )) containing a where i1 < . . . <

in = N ,
f −1 B( 1 )N +1 (c) ⊂ U ⊂ X.


3

Indeed if b is in B( 1 )N +1 (c),
3

b 1 = a1 , . . . , b N = aN .

From this f −1 (b) is in U. Hence f −1 is continuous.

P ai /2
Proposition 2 Define g : ΠAi → [0, 1] as (ai ) 7→ 2i
. Then g is surjective
and continuous.

Proof
1. g is continuous : This follows using similar arguments as above.
2. g is surjective : Suppose x is in [0, 1]. We know that there is a unique
sequence (bi )∞
i=1 (the binary expansion of x) such that

∞
X 1
x= bi ( )i .
i=1
2

Let ai = 2bi , then g((ai )) = x.

[Figure] C → [0, 1]

Lemma 3 Suppose Ai = {0, 2} is a space with a discrete topology. Then

Π∞ ∞ ∼ ∞
i=1 Ai × Πi=1 Ai = Πi=1 Ai .

Corollary 4 There exists a surjective continuous function h : ΠAi → [0, 1] ×

[0, 1] = I 2 .

2
Proof Let g be the function defined in the above proposition. Now consider
the following diagram :
g×g
ΠAi ×O ΠAi / [0, 1] × [0, 1]
n6
nnnnn
nnn
∼
=
 nnn h
C∼
= ΠAi

[Figure] Space filling curve